Tea and Brain Function

by Adam Yusko

Tea is an inspiring beverage, and the caffeine and Theanine in it promote alertness and concentration. So besides having a cup to start your day, or anytime you start to slow down during the day, how else can you utilize your time with tea, and possibly clear your head and refresh? I’ve found that studying is very much helped by tea, and I find that I feel much better studying with tea than with coffee. Something else that I recently started to do is write under the influence of tea.

I’ve been writing poetry for a long time, but had all but stopped for almost a year, when suddenly it hit me. I should use the breaks in the day for tea to resume writing poetry as well. It doesn’t surprise me that  the poems I write during these breaks focus on nature or the tea that I’m drinking. In fact, I keep notes as to which type of tea I was drinking while writing each poem.

To extend it from writing, when doing mathematical research over the summer, I would often have tea to sort of refresh my mind and encourage new trains of thought which would hopefully lead to a new or more elegant solution.

I’m sure many people will argue that coffee is good for these things also, but while the caffeine in coffee is energizing, I find its bad for staying in one spot. As a cup of tea provides a slight energy which proves enough to prevent dozing, it also doesn’t make you want to clean everything in sight. So if what needs inspiring isn’t something incredibly active, perhaps tea is a better match.

There are probably many other ways to weave tea into your life to increase inspiration, in art or otherwise. Considering the uses for tea in history, I feel I am far from the first to think about this, but surely everyone can find a way to use the influence of the wonderful beverage tea is, to be inspired. So enjoy tea, and let it influence you, even if it is for better comprehension of the latest novel.